The Buddhist Conception of Evil: A Fool's Lack of Awareness

According to Buddhist philosophy, evil per se does not exist. Evil is one of the illusions confounding the soul of those who have not "awakened", that is, not reached the same exalted internal consciousness characterizing the enlightened. This concept does not refer to ignorance or to boorishness in the Western modern sense of the word but to a type of lack of awareness that prevents a person from perceiving the true nature of events, reality as it is. The author here attempts to provide some insight into Buddhism's perception of evil.